Unfair

Mom and Dad get this:

And I get this:

Actually, Lizzie has been good. Mom gave her a bath before she came and she just started stinking last night! The kids and I are taking her to be groomed tomorrow so she can smell good when my parents get home!

And I am so glad my parents were able to go see my sister in St. Thomas. They are having a great time. The first night they said they had the best food they have ever eaten. Today they went to Megan's Bay, Mountain Top. The picture above is of Megan's Bay that I got off the internet. Tomorrow they will be going to St. John. I can't wait to see all of the pictures they have taken.

Papa's Joke

This is Hunter laughing at Papa's joke! I wish I had this on video! I love to hear his laugh!

Little Red Riding Hood is skipping thru the forest road when she sees the big bad wolf crouched down behind a log. She says, "My, what big eyes you have, Mr. Wolf." The wolf jumps up and runs away.Further down the road Little Red Riding Hood sees the wolf again and this time he is crouched behind a bush.She says, "My, what big ears you have, Mr. Wolf."Again the wolf jumps up and runs away.About 1/4 mile down the road Little Red Riding Hood sees the wolf again and this time he is crouched down behind a rock.She says, "My, what big teeth you have, Mr. Wolf."With that the wolf jumps up and screams, "Will you knock it off, I'm trying to poop!"

3 more weeks....

Of relaxing at the pool!!

Pizza

We have scoured the internet looking for the pizza place Burk loved as a kid. While driving in Tennessee I spotted the sign! Of course we couldn’t miss this chance to have such wonderful pizza! Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite what Burk had remembered. Isn’t that way it usually goes?

Tunnels

This is something we started when Marley was little. When we go through a tunnel Burk honks the horn, we raise our hands and make noise! North Carolina gave us several opportunities to do this. Hunter doesn’t get into so much!

General Lee

On the way home we made a detour through Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Our main purpose was to go to "Cooters." It was a museum of the "Dukes of Hazard." Pretty much the highlight was the car outside. There wasn't much to look at inside and what souvenirs they had to buy were outrageous. And Hot Wheels size replica of General Lee was $10!

Ridgecrest

Just to prove I was there!

They had classes for the kids while I went to mine. The building in the back was where Hunter and Jenna went. Jenna went on this front side and Hunter on the other side.



To get Marley to her class we had to climb a very big hill. 6 times each day!! If only I could do that everyday!
This was at the start of it.



The walkway on the right is where we would take Jenna.
The Y at the very top of the hill is where we turn right to Marley's class.



They had a shuttle that came around but it always went the opposite direction than we were going. This last day it was actually going the same way and the driver asked us if we would like a ride. But I wanted to take these pictures and by then it was getting a little easier!



In the picture below you can see how the road is going to the left. You climb that hill and the kids directors meet you there to check kids in. Once they do the kids have to hike even further to get to their class. Luckily, that is as far as the parents have to go. But your legs are so weak from climbing the hill you don't think you can go back down!



The kids are very well taken care of. This is two of Marley's camp leaders. On the last day the guy wouldn't let Marley leave without giving him a hug goodbye.

Mountains

Here are a few pictures of the mountains. The last two are of the rain moving in.

Downtown Asheville

At the advice of my family, we ate at the Mellow Mushroom for dinner. I had the Kosmic Karma pizza. It had sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, feta, fresh tomatoes and pesto. Yum-yum!




The kids were intrigued with the bowling balls in the fence around the restaurant.







After dinner we walked around downtown.

There was a clown making balloons. Of course he calls Hunter over and starts making balloons for the kids. Marley got these butterfly wings and gave them to Jenna.

It started to rain while we were in the Mast General Store. When we came out we saw a rainbow! Our second one of the trip.

Dancing

Hunter got his fidgets out by dancing for us at a Mexican Restaurant. The guy next to us just thought he was going to have a peaceful meal!

Hotel Swimming

Our first night we stopped in Jackson, TN. Of course we picked hotels that had pools. After driving all day we needed to wear the kids out before bed! They had lots of fun with dad in the pool.

I'm back!

Last week we took off to North Carolina on a last minute trip. I went to a Sunday School Conference at Ridgecrest and the family got to tag along. The conference was crammed into a weekend so there wasn't much time for sightseeing. We did have some much needed family time. I will post some pictures and snippets of our trip a little at a time while I try to catch up on laundry. The picture below was taken as we crossed the Mighty Mississippi heading into Tennessee.

Dogone!

About a month ago a storm blew through while we were at church and knocked our fence down and our dogs got out. We looked around and could not find them. Monday I called Animal Control to see if they had them. They took my number and said someone had found them and they would be calling me. The lady who found them just happens to be a lab rescuer (our dogs are labs.) We went to get them and my dad and uncle came over to fix our fence. It was good as new. A few days later I wake up to the doorbell ringing. It was our neighbor telling me the dogs had just run past her house. I checked our fence. They had used their noses to lift the latch and let themselves out. I loaded up the kids and went looking for them. I found them running a few streets over. Did I mention it was raining? They were soaking wet and I had to lift them up into the back of the Suburban. I took them home. I put a stick in the fence thinking that might hold them. While I had everyone loaded up I went to get my drink from Sonic! When I got back they were out again! We headed back out to find them. We spotted them on the busy road close to our house. They were chasing cars. I had to keep telling the kids to hide their eyes thinking they were going to get hit. We got them back in and secured the fence. Over the course of the next several weeks they had dug themselves out at several places. I filled the holes with rocks and big logs. The fire department is right behind us and one of the firemen has taken to our dogs. He brings over food and scraps often. Which might be part of the reason they are getting out! But he has brought them back several times. Finally two Sunday’s ago they took off again. Wednesday the lab rescuer calls me. She saw in the paper that someone found two yellow labs. She called them and then called me to see if ours were missing. I call the person who found them. She said she would keep them overnight and then take them to the rescuers house who said she would keep them until we could fix our fence. The next day I got a call from the finder who said that now the rescuer could not keep them and she was going out of town. So I went and picked them up. But by Saturday morning they were gone again. It looks like they just pushed themselves under the fence. We have not heard from them since. The night we brought them home we let them stay in the house most of the time. They were calmer than they usually were. Probably tired from running. They just laid in the floor where Jenna pulled their ears and tails. I hope that a loving family has found them.